Life Insurance

Chronology of Coverage

Jun. 22, 2014

Many companies insure their employees’ lives with themselves as beneficiaries, a practice some deride as immoral. But companies say the policies, for which they get tax breaks, help them bolster pensions and health care. MORE

Apr. 8, 2014

Many Americans are avoiding tests to have their DNA sequenced, fearful that results may be used against them when applying for life, disability or long-term care insurance; federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA, does not apply to those types of insurance. MORE

Dec. 17, 2013

Joseph Caramadre, lawyer who called himself a philanthropist, is sentenced to six years in fraud case in which he cost insurance companies and bond insurers $46 million; federal prosecutors contend that Caramadre was a scam artist, preying on the ill and dying. MORE

Sep. 11, 2013

Benjamin Lawsky, the New York financial regulator, has left a multistate test of a framework for insurers’ asset reserves, saying industry “gamesmanship” was only getting worse. MORE

Jul. 9, 2013

A proposal by Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah would enable governments to turn their pension plans over to life insurers. MORE

Jun. 11, 2013

New York regulators say life insurers are putting policyholders at risk and could cause another taxpayer bailout. MORE

May. 22, 2013

MetLife says it will make its business more transparent by moving some deals for hedging risk back to United States from offshore, pleasing regulators but underwhelming stock market; nation's largest life insurance company has been using Bermuda subsidiary Exeter Reassurance to reinsure several billion dollars worth of variable annuity contracts, in which customers pay in advance to receive guaranteed retirement payments. MORE

May. 11, 2013

Paul Sullivan Wealth Matters column says that tax advantages and gains from permanent life insurance or annuities can be erased by fees and penalties. MORE

Nov. 30, 2012

National Association of Insurance Commissioners completes study of suspicious transactions in life insurance industry set off year ago by New York Times article; concludes that transactions, which allow companies to improve their balance sheet by offloading policies to subsidiaries, are a threat to the industry, but cannot reach consensus about potential action. MORE

Aug. 12, 2012

James Vlahos describes the strange, lucrative life-settlements market, in which people buy and sell other people's life-insurance policies. MORE

Apr. 24, 2012

MetLife becomes the third big life insurer to settle regulatory accusations of failing to keep track of policyholder deaths, trapping money that should have gone promptly to the beneficiaries; agrees to pay states a total of $40 million in a negotiated settlement; also expects to release about $188 million to beneficiaries around the country in 2012. MORE

Oct. 15, 2011

Pat Sullivan Wealth Matters column notes that some financial advisers are encouraging their clients to buy permanent life insurance, which does not lapse like term insurance, as a substitute for bonds in their portfolio. MORE